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Re: The Astronomy Tower

^ Looks like an egg!

"Thirty-one* states allow all qualified citizens to carry concealed weapons. In those states, homosexuals should embark on organized efforts to become comfortable with guns, learn to use them safely and carry them. They should set up Pink Pistols task forces, sponsor shooting courses and help homosexuals get licensed to carry. And they should do it in a way that gets as much publicity as possible. "

Re: The Astronomy Tower

Originally Posted by JWaggy

I know, right? Something is definitely brewing under the surface.

But if something's brewing, that would mean it's a keg....

"Thirty-one* states allow all qualified citizens to carry concealed weapons. In those states, homosexuals should embark on organized efforts to become comfortable with guns, learn to use them safely and carry them. They should set up Pink Pistols task forces, sponsor shooting courses and help homosexuals get licensed to carry. And they should do it in a way that gets as much publicity as possible. "

Re: The Astronomy Tower

Another one of Saturn's moons, Dione. This is a mosaic from pictures taken by the Cassini spacecraft in April of 2010. There is some great detail in this. Here is a larger version of the image.

Those faults on the upper left limb look like something nearly cracked it open.

"Thirty-one* states allow all qualified citizens to carry concealed weapons. In those states, homosexuals should embark on organized efforts to become comfortable with guns, learn to use them safely and carry them. They should set up Pink Pistols task forces, sponsor shooting courses and help homosexuals get licensed to carry. And they should do it in a way that gets as much publicity as possible. "

Re: The Astronomy Tower

^
I've gotten that one from three different people by email.

"Thirty-one* states allow all qualified citizens to carry concealed weapons. In those states, homosexuals should embark on organized efforts to become comfortable with guns, learn to use them safely and carry them. They should set up Pink Pistols task forces, sponsor shooting courses and help homosexuals get licensed to carry. And they should do it in a way that gets as much publicity as possible. "

Re: The Astronomy Tower

How long have we known about emission nebulas? I don't remember such a thing from university astronomy.

"Thirty-one* states allow all qualified citizens to carry concealed weapons. In those states, homosexuals should embark on organized efforts to become comfortable with guns, learn to use them safely and carry them. They should set up Pink Pistols task forces, sponsor shooting courses and help homosexuals get licensed to carry. And they should do it in a way that gets as much publicity as possible. "

Re: The Astronomy Tower

Practically, it's a meaningless figure unless we know how many are in the "Goldilocks zone".

Or if we learn to move planets.

"Thirty-one* states allow all qualified citizens to carry concealed weapons. In those states, homosexuals should embark on organized efforts to become comfortable with guns, learn to use them safely and carry them. They should set up Pink Pistols task forces, sponsor shooting courses and help homosexuals get licensed to carry. And they should do it in a way that gets as much publicity as possible. "

Re: The Astronomy Tower

^
So we don't really know if there are ANY earthlike planets in the Goldilocks Zone, only that there are some closer to their stars than Mercury to ours.

That's so NOT useful!

"Thirty-one* states allow all qualified citizens to carry concealed weapons. In those states, homosexuals should embark on organized efforts to become comfortable with guns, learn to use them safely and carry them. They should set up Pink Pistols task forces, sponsor shooting courses and help homosexuals get licensed to carry. And they should do it in a way that gets as much publicity as possible. "

Re: The Astronomy Tower

He should have stuck in a stop sign . . . a joke lasting thousands of years.

NASA has a lousy sense of humour.

Do you really expect that they'd have been interested in spending $25k (at a minimum) to get a stop sign to the moon?

"Thirty-one* states allow all qualified citizens to carry concealed weapons. In those states, homosexuals should embark on organized efforts to become comfortable with guns, learn to use them safely and carry them. They should set up Pink Pistols task forces, sponsor shooting courses and help homosexuals get licensed to carry. And they should do it in a way that gets as much publicity as possible. "

Re: The Astronomy Tower

BUMP!

I found a really good walkthrough tour of the International Space Station. It's very interesting and informative!

It was done by NASA astronaut Sunita Williams last November, on the day she was about to leave for home after a five-month stay onboard. It shows you loads of stuff like their labs and workstations, their 'kitchen', the airlock and the spacesuits they use for EVAs, the Soyuz capsules that take them to and from Earth, and even how they use the toilet. ()

If the vid is too long, then skip to 11:30 - it's the part where she's in the 'Cupola' observation port looking down on Earth below. Great views and grand scene.

Some more facts:

The International Space Station is now manned by a permanent rotating crew of six. Three of the six are always Russian. They rotate half the crew every two/three months (the Soyuz can only take three at any one time). An individual stays up there for five/six months as part of an Expedition crew. They are launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Since the first crew arrived in the year 2000, the ISS has been always manned by at least two.

They are now on Expedition 35. Three landed back on Earth in Kazakhstan two weeks ago, and a new additional three-member crew launch TODAY (Thursday) about 14 hours from now. The live launches of the Soyuz rocket can be watched on NASA TV.

Re: The Astronomy Tower

A time-lapse rotation of the major asteroid Vesta, taken by NASA's Dawn spacebrobe, which is currently on an extended journey through the asteroid belt, between Mars and Jupiter. Dawn spent over a year in orbit of Vesta, which is one of the largest asteroids in the Solar System, and the brightest asteroid seen from Earth.

The spacecraft also sent back the most detailed composite image of Vesta to date.

Dawn left orbit and departed Vesta in September 2012 and is now en route for a scheduled encounter with the largest asteroid, Ceres, in February 2015.

Re: The Astronomy Tower

A cosmic game of billiards....

Try and follow the spacecraft.

This was how NASA's MESSENGER probe had to travel to achieve Mercury orbit. The trouble of going 'directly' there is that the spacecraft would be going too slow to ever get into orbit. Mercury travels so fast that any spacecraft must 'pick up speed' and the only way to do that is a series of fly-bys of Earth, Venus and Mercury en route.

MESSENGER was launched in 2004 and had to make a fly-by of Earth (2005), two of Venus (2006, 2007) and three of Mercury (2008, 2008, 2009) before finally having enough speed to enter orbit in 2011, becoming only the second spaceprobe ever to reach Mercury after Mariner 10 in 1974.